Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
Your first question comes from Edward Yruma – JP Morgan.
Edward Yruma - JP Morgan
Congratulations on a nice quarter. Can you talk a little bit about your acquisition? Do you need additional acquisitions to get the critical mass in that space that you need going forward? Is this an implicit shift away from some of your international growth plans?
Daniel Hamburger
You are talking about the acquisition of Advanced Academics?
Edward Yruma - JP Morgan
Yes.
Daniel Hamburger
In the high school market? No, I don't think we necessarily need to do more acquisitions in order to achieve our growth plans in that market. It's certainly possible and we keep our eyes open to those. But it wouldn't be necessary for our growth. No, I wouldn't see this as opposed to acquisitions for international expansions, but in addition to.
Edward Yruma - JP Morgan
One follow-up if I may. This is some of the strongest growth we've seen out of Keller in some time. I know you alluded to improved lead flow. How sustainable is this rate of improvement? Do you expect to see it over the next couple of enrollment periods? Thank you.
Daniel Hamburger
Thanks. As I mentioned, it's a little above the average, so it was a very good enrollment period for us.
Operator
Your next question comes from Amy Junker - Robert Baird.
Amy Junker - Robert Baird
A quick question on the margins -- I'm not looking for guidance; I know you're not going to give it -- but can you give us some sort of qualitative comment? I know you're making some investments going forward, and you're saying that this quarter's improvement is not sustainable. But any order of magnitude of what we can expect in terms of investments and where those might come in, in terms of timing?
Daniel Hamburger
Sure. Rick, jump in If there are things you'd like to add to this. What we're saying is if we saw triple-digit increase in earnings that it wouldn't be reasonable to expect that going forward. We're certainly focused on improving our margins, but probably not at the same rate that we saw in this quarter.
Maybe some of the color there would be investments -- and I'm using the word ?investment? broadly, not just capital investments but also things that would hit the P&L as expense in terms of people. We did have a number of unfilled positions in the first quarter, just because we are focused on hiring the best people we possibly can, and sometimes it takes a little longer than you plan. But we do expect to get those filled and that will certainly have an impact on the margin expansion. Then there are the investments in marketing and recruiting, and then the investments in the information technology infrastructure. So that's a little bit of color.
- To read the full transcript on Seeking Alpha, click here »
